Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 116-94 Loss to Philadelphia 76ers

Philadelphia’s balanced attack

All-star starter Joel Embiid and rookie sensation Ben Simmons were the headliners coming into Saturday night’s tilt, and they did not disappoint.

Embiid was dominant, scoring 29 points on a variety of looks from inside and out. He even showed off his range by nailing a pair of straight-on three-pointers. While Milwaukee’s spindly centers were able to put Embiid off his mark from time to time, Philadelphia’s All-Star basically did whatever he wanted.

Simmons scored 16, largely on cuts and lightning-quick drives to the hoop. His purposeful passing kept the whole team involved, as he tallied nine assists as well. He appeared equally content feeding the ball to his big men on simple post entries and creating flashy looks for cutting teammates out of the post.

Unfortunately for the Bucks, this Sixers team showed far more than two star players and a serviceable supporting cast.

Shooting guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 16, more than double his season average. He went 5-of-9 from deep, and had a knack for coming up with big shots to curb Milwaukee’s momentum. Dario Saric and Robert Covington both chipped in with 16, while T.J. McConnell scored 11 points too.

76ers coach Brett Brown has instructed his team to keep the ball moving and hunt for good looks. On this night they did just that, compiling 32 assists and shooting 52.9 percent from the field.

With so much falling into place for the 76ers, it took some strong performances on Milwaukee’s end to stay in the game as long as they did. Khris Middleton stepped up in Giannis’ absence, and ended up stuffing the stat sheet.